A woman who sued a Houston congressional candidate last week is now the target of an online doxxing attempt via a website that describes her as “dirty and shameless” and encourages readers to call and text her and her parents, while listing their phone numbers and home address.
“Tell her what she did is WRONG,” the website says beneath the woman’s telephone number. “And tell her about Karma!”
The site also goes after the woman’s attorney, saying she is “known for exaggeration and targeting high-profile individuals for financial gain.”
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The website went live Tuesday, one day after the Houston Landing first reported former campaign staffer Maha Chishtey filed a lawsuit last Friday accusing candidate Pervez Agwan of assault, battery and false imprisonment, alleging he tried to kiss her and temporarily prevented her from leaving his office.
Agwan, a Democrat, is challenging incumbent Texas 7th District Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher in the March Democratic primary.
It is unclear who created the website, which says it is “Powered By: Political Chronicles of Justice,” but Chishtey’s attorney said she believes the doxxing effort is connected to Agwan’s campaign.
“The website was plainly created by Agwan,” Melissa Moore, the attorney, wrote in an email Thursday. “He should simply own up to it and quit hiding behind anonymity like a keyboard commando.”
In a statement Thursday, Agwan denied any connection to the website.
“Just as I will not stand for the harassment of myself or my family, I will not stand for the harassment of anyone else, either,” the statement reads. “Anyone who would use harmful rhetoric or tactics to exacerbate this frivolous situation further is not acting in the best interest of our community or our cause. To those who seek to intimidate or harm with cowardly acts online or elsewhere, stop immediately.”
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According to her lawsuit, Chishtey began working for the campaign as an unpaid volunteer in July of this year and was hired as a paid staffer in August.
The lawsuit details a series of incidents at the campaign, beginning in late August when former organizing director Ovér Santiago Lopez Garcia was arrested and accused of having a sexual relationship with a minor student while he was a teacher at a public secondary school.
According to the lawsuit, a second organizing director, Angelo Perlera, was hired, but subjected Chishtey and other young female staffers to “unwanted touching and inappropriate comments.”
The suit states that Chishtey reported Perlera’s conduct to Agwan in early October, and the candidate told her he would address it.
In the lawsuit, Chishtey says she was summoned to the campaign’s headquarters on the evening of Oct. 18, where she alleges that following a long conversation, Agwan put his hands on her and attempted to kiss her.
The suit states that when Chishtey declined Agwan’s advances, he prevented her from leaving the office. After “what seemed like an eternity,” Chishtey was allowed to leave the office and resigned from the campaign shortly after, according to the lawsuit. The suit says other young women working for the campaign quit around the same time because Agwan failed to address the complaints about Perlera.
Chishtey, who is seeking $2 million in damages, has not filed a police report about the incident, her lawyer Moore said.
Agwan on Monday denied the allegations and issued a statement calling the lawsuit a “dishonest hit-job” before going on to claim it is part of a smear campaign coordinated by the national lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee. In follow up texts with the Houston Landing, Agwan did not provide evidence of the alleged smear campaign, simply writing “we are the only pro-Palestine congressional campaign in the state.”
The top of the doxxing website prominently features several photos of Chishtey and includes her phone number and links to her social media accounts across the site’s banner.
“WARNING - DANGEROUS THIS IS MAHA CHISHTEY AND YOU COULD BE HER NEXT VICTIM,” the top of the website reads. “Young Girl Cries Wolf and seeks $2 Million payday in a False Sexual Assault Accusation against Congressional Candidate.”
The website then mocks her allegations in a 364-word account titled “fiction.”
The next wall of text purports to be a rebuttal of Chishtey’s claims. The section begins with a claim that Chishtey was a paid former staffer of Congresswoman Fletcher, claiming to be based on payroll records.
There are no records of Chishtey being paid by Fletcher’s campaign or her congressional office, according to Federal Election Commission records and Congressional Statement of Disbursement records.
Fletcher’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The website is a deluge of personal insults toward Chishtey and her perceived allies, including “dirty,” “shameless” and “jobless.”
It also claims Moore is a “shark of a lawyer” who will tear anyone down “for a quick buck.”
In an interview Monday, Moore, a local employment attorney, noted her more than two decades of law practice in Houston and said she takes her commitment to the women she represents very seriously.
The bottom of the website encourages readers to reach out directly to Chishtey and her parents.
“Help get the message across that you get what you put out into the universe and every action has a reaction,” the website reads. “This page is on the internet because this is the consequence of falsely accusing a man that did nothing wrong and became your victim!”
The Houston Landing reached out to the phone numbers listed for Chishtey and both of her parents.
Chishtey did not respond to a text message.
A man who answered the phone for the number attributed to Chishtey’s mother declined to comment on her behalf.
The number purported to be that of Chishtey’s father was answered by a man who said he has the same last name as the family but has no relation to them and does not know who they are. He said he had received two separate text messages Thursday that read “Karma is real: think twice before you make false allegations.”
Under his phone number, the website reads “tell him how great of a job he did raising his daughter.”
This article first appeared on Houston Landingand is republished here under a Creative Commons license.